Reports of Doctor Who being given the ax by the BBC have been greatly exaggerated according to the broadcaster themselves, but one can’t help but wonder what’s going on after a peculiar promo revealed the release date for the new season to be April 12, 2025. There was no fanfare, no announcement from the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) himself, nor anything from showrunner Russell T Davies. Heck, the official Doctor Who account on X hasn’t even confirmed the date yet. Instead, it was announced during – of all things – a random rugby match.
Per The Independent, the announcement came on Friday, Feb. 21 during the BBC’s coverage of the U20s Six Nations Rugby match between England and Scotland. “There are forces beyond this universe,” the promo (seen below) begins as we’re shown footage of what to expect in the upcoming season, including a look at the Dalek’s homeworld. “It’s all a game to them, but the games are deadly.” Gatwa’s 15th Doctor is back in action, as is Millie Gibson as his companion. Varada Sethu is also front and center as a new companion as well, but the decision to air the promo during a rugby match left some to question the sanity of the BBC.
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Ncuti Gatwa won’t be present in the limited series, which instead focuses on UNIT.
“The way zero fans saw this because in what world do rugby and Doctor Who fans overlap,” said one person on social media. “Quite a random place to drop such a big announcement,” came the words of journalist Scott Bryan. Then there was another person who summed up the whole thing like this, which, honestly, is hard to argue with:
“I find it hilarious that it was a totally unrelated rugby match that announced the release date of the next season and not, you know, the BBC itself, any of Doctor Who’s social media pages, the Doctor himself, or even the showrunner. No, a trailer in a random rugby match.”
The BBC Insists ‘Doctor Who’ Is Not Being Canceled
The time and place of the promo could not have been worse for the BBC, as a report came out last week that Doctor Who was in danger of being canceled due to poor ratings and even poorer management. The report also stated that Gatwa was considering quitting the series because of its “woke” storylines, but nothing could be further from the truth, according to the British broadcaster. “This story is incorrect, Doctor Who has not been shelved,” they said in a statement, adding:
“As we have previously stated, the decision on season 3 will be made after season 2 airs. The deal with Disney+ was for 26 episodes – and exactly half of those still have to transmit. And as for the rest, we never comment on the Doctor and future storylines.”
If that’s the case, then why was the announcement of when the next season will air made during a rugby match? It seems to only highlight the initial report of poor management, because, as it’s been pointed out, not a lot of Doctor Who fans watch the sport. Why, too, has nothing been announced on social media? The whole thing seems very suspect, but until the BBC says otherwise, we’ll just have to take them at their word that Doctor Who is safe for now, or, at least through next season. You can check out the current crop of Doctor Who episodes streaming on Disney+, and catch all past episodes of the modern era streaming now on Max.
Source: The Independent
Doctor Who
4.5
/5
- Release Date
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December 25, 2023
- Network
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BBC
- Directors
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Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie
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